November 27, 2010

I wonder if having a larger scar wouldn't actually fortify President Obama's profile, as he contends with Kim Jong Il, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Vladimir Putin. Imagine a president with a gnarly, vivid scar telling the rulers of China, "Nice country ya' got here. I'd hate to see something happen to it if you didn't stop foolin' around with the value of your currency. Know what I mean?"

Uh... I think the reason he got 12 stitches was because they were very tiny stitches so there won't be a visible scar. But here's NPR trying to rise above its wimpy reputation.

As a former recreational hockey player of 15 years all I can say is big whoop.. If you need a scar to give you "cred" and you need NPR to promote it for you then... aww forget it. the wimp factor is so high that I have no words.

The President would have street cred with Kim Jong Il, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Vladimir Putin were his "gnarly, vivid scar" the result of a gnarly, vivid activities, like hunting bears, dressing moose, pummeling fishing in the Arctic, rock climbing, or . . .

Doing something that doesn't denigrate his country or his people (whomever they may be) is what will give him some street cred.

Funny thing about the Commies. They used the useful idiots, but they never trusted them. When they would go over to the other side, they were pensioned off to a dacha far removed from anything important. This on the assumption that, if you sold out your own, you'd sell out anybody.

Harry said...

I'm recalling the exchange from The Magnificent Seven:

Sotero: There's one - look at the scars on his face!Hilario: The man for us is the one who GAVE him that face.

There's a similar piece in The Comancheros, where Nehemiah Persoff tries to explain to Ina Balin why the Duke would be a more suitable lover than good-looking Stuart Whitman.

"The scars above the eyes, the nose that has been broken. All signs he has imposed, or tried to impose, his will on others".

Scott, don't stop there, man. If 12 stitches ain't enough, let's give Obama a face tattoo like Tyson's. Yank out those pearly whites and give him a solid gold grill, maybe with the Presidential seal inscribed on an incisor. Have him flash a couple of gang signs during his next press conference. And a nickname - I'm thinking Notorious B-Dawg.

(Palladian, thanks for linking the pic of Simon, by the way. He looks like the kind of who crosses the street when someone's grandmother is heading his way.)

If physical scars impresses Mr. Simon, perhaps he should have paid more attention two years ago to Sen. John McCain - a man who suffered torture (not Guantanamo Bay torture, but real torture) over five years as a POW, four of which were after he turned down an early release because of who his father was. A fat lip caused by an errant elbow while playing a game causes no one any anxiety other than President Obama himself, due to his vanity. Sen. McCain bears the scars of a serious man having done serious things in the service of his country. President Obama is a superficial man whose physical countenance has been mildly altered by frivolity.

Perhaps NPR is building a "narrative." For many of them, It's all narratives, don't you know, subjective and best explained by academic experts that often tend to agree with NPR.

Psychology and Sociology and Political Science are in fact sciences I gather, and perhaps the best maps to describe the world around us, people's inner and outer states, how society ought to guide itself, and coincidentally, the best tools educate those who need to be educated and included (those long suffering and noble African Americans).

Come, come all of you and sit at the tribal radio fire and share in what's good for all of us. Sit in the warm bath of well enunciated words and issues of the day.

It's not the scar but the source of the scar that gives one cred. Knife fight, yes; extreme sport injury, maybe; accident in a friendly and mostly non-contact sport played in the backyard, no.

As a regular NPR listener, I feel I am uniquely qualified to call for zero funding. If the affluent white liberals who make up its target audience want their own radio station, they can easily afford one. Conservatives, the poor and minorities shouldn't be taxed to finance their ego strokes.

He can't throw a football either. (did you see him on that "Play 60" opening last year w/ Brees, throwing and catching like a girl?)

What American male can't throw a baseball or a football? Certainly he is not a "creature of our own",an indigenous citizen (born from within), a natural born Citizen (born in the US of 2 US Citizen parents). He is ineligible for the office.

Even with 12 tiny stitches sewn by a plastic surgeon, Obama's scar will intimidate NPR commentators. They will liken Obama to the Comanche warchief in The Searchers or a Miami coke king, as played by Al Pacino.

I heard that yesterday morning and took it as Scott Simon just trying to be funny, through a bad, tough guy impression, and kind of missing the mark. Ot wasn't NPR trying to rise above it's wimpy rep, it was NPR trying to be funny. On a news show it just ususlly doesn't work.

Imagine a president with a gnarly, vivid scar telling the rulers of China, "Nice country ya' got here. I'd hate to see something happen to it if you didn't stop foolin' around with the value of your currency. Know what I mean?"